Miscellaneous Papers. 243 



dust three times a day in front of the symbols and idols, the latter 

 being crude figures of men and animals, carved out of wood or 

 stone. 



The halls of worship are large, rectangular, flat-roofed buildings, 

 the inside walls of which are decorated with symbolic paintings of 

 the greater and lesser deities of the Jemez tribe. Before these sa- 

 cred emblems the "cacique," or sun priest, sprinkles the sacred 

 dust, and prays both at the beginning and at the close of any 

 special ceremony. In front of these same paintings the dancers 

 and clowns train themselves for special occasions, and from their 

 presence they emerge from the building to dance and perform be- 

 fore the public in the plaza, and to their presence they return at 

 the close of the public ceremony, to be sprinkled with the sacred 

 meal and to receive the blessings of the gods. 



While United States Indian farmer at Jemez, in 1899 and 1900, 

 I visited each of the halls of worship (estufas) at will, being with 

 the Indians in them as many as six nights in the week. I also ex- 

 amined the blind closets and' secret rooms in their dwellings, and 

 visited their open-air performances held during my sojourn there. 

 Thus was I enabled to see many things of interest. Among these 

 were their dances. Observations on these I give below. 



THE MASKED DANCE. 



One morning soon after I went to Jemez an "Ahoo, ahoo, ahoo, 

 ahoo, ahoo," broke the stillness of the morning air. A masked 

 sun-dance was commencing. The "Ahoo, ahoo, ahoo," grew louder 

 and louder and became a more basic, hideous sound, as sixteen 

 strange-looking creatures issued, one after another, from the pas- 

 sageway in the roof of the rectangular sun-house. They were the 

 clowns that, according to the Jemez belief, represent the principal 

 gods, the sun, the moon, the morning star, and the evening star, on 

 all special religious occasions. All of these clowns were gaudily 

 dressed. All had conspicuous head ornaments, and all wore circu- 

 lar masks some eight inches in diameter. On these were painted 

 the gods they respectively represented, together with paintings of 

 clouds, of lightnings, and of snakes. 



The arms of these clowns were naked. They wore leggings and 

 moccasins tinged in red. Their yellow-painted bodies were wrapped 

 in richly colored blankets or robes, on which were embroidered, in 

 characteristic colors, figures of the sun, of the moon, of the great 

 stars, of the good and evil snakes, of the rainbow in the west and 

 the rainbow in the east, and of the four pillars of clouds — the 

 steps from earth to heaven — all making a fantastic display. 



